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Five from Concord charged in nationwide immigration

By Michael Knox
mknox@independenttribune.com
Saturday, February 24, 2007

CONCORD - Five employees of a cleaning company that contracted with the Concord branch of Dave & Busters restaurant were arrested this week on charges of immigration violations, officials said Friday.

Richard Rocha, a spokesman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement said five suspects from Mexico were charged as part of a round up that included arrests in 17 states and the District of Columbia, including 63 locations. In all, nearly 195 immigration status violators were charged, according to a news release.

Rocha said he did not have the names of the five individuals.

The arrests were made as part of a worksite enforcement investigation involving Rosenbaum-Cunningham International, a Florida-based company that specializes in subcontracting cleaning services, according to a news release.

The arrests were made late Wednesday night and early Thursday morning, Rocha said.

No one from Dave & Busters could be reached for comment.

Julie Myers, assistant secretary for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said that during the investigation officials learned that RCI bought fake green cards for employees after a business requested the I-9 forms.

“In addition, the 23-count indictment alleges that the principals of RCI not only knowingly hired and harbored illegal aliens, but that they also conspired to defraud the government of more than $18 million in payroll taxes,” Myers said. “Money they used to buy lavish homes, fancy cars, luxury boats and racehorses. They set up phony companies to hide their ill-gotten gains and paid their workers in cash, under the table.”

Myers suggested in a news release that if a business is contracting with another service, that business should verify legal status by requesting the contractor provide I-9 forms for employees.

• Contact Michael Knox at mknox@independenttribune.